The conference has far more younger people than I expected, mostly students in the late stages of grad school (the chances are high I'm the only first year grad student there), post-docs, and recent graduates. Sandy explained that this conference is part of the European Gamma-Ray Burst Research Training Network, an association of European institutions to promote experience, especially for younger scientists. The diversity is very enjoyable. I love being able to sit quietly in a crowded room and hear conversations going on in several languages.

I don't think I had previously realized how difficult it must be for non-native English speakers in an English-dominated field. A person can be an expert communicator in his/her native language, but if I can't understand half of the words in a talk, I'm not going to get much from it. It's unfair that they're disadvantaged in such a way, but I can't think of a solution; we all need to speak the same language, and English appears to be preferred.

I met a graduate student from India at lunch today. It surprises me how much the higher educational systems change from country to country. In the Unites States, it's typically 4 years for a bachelors degree, 2 years for a masters, and an additional 2 to 4 years for a doctorate. In India and the Netherlands, it's 3 years for a bachelors, 2 years for a masters, and an additional 4 or 5 years for a doctorate. I haven't heard this directly from someone in the UK, but I've been told the PhD process there is very quick, on the order of 3 years for grad school total.

A group of us went out to dinner at a Spanish restaurant Chryssa knew. We ordered a delicious seafood rice platter and salad for the table. I'm not a huge seafood person, but I enjoyed it. I learned that Limonada is not lemonade, but a European term for soda.

Afterwards, we went back to the bar that was closed on Sunday, De Wildeman. I enjoyed my hot chocolate in the cold weather. We hung out for a while before taking a tram back to the hotel.